What is “the Secret?”
Did your friend at school ever tell you they knew something but they couldn’t tell you what it was? Didn’t that suddenly produce a ravenous desire to be in the know? It’s with that playground principle that “the Secret” attempts to engage the world.
The secret is more of a self-help mind trick than a faith or religion. It's based around “The Law of Attraction”. The theory works like this: everything in your life is a product of your own mind. Scary huh? You attract things by thinking and feeling.
Some people are negative thinkers. They’re miserable and the universe responds to their sour outlook on life by rewarding them with more misery: a rubbish job, no money, poor health, doomed relationships. Their miserable life wasn’t a product of circumstance or the decisions of others, oh no, they brought it on themselves. Their negative thoughts and feelings sent out ‘bad vibes’, or “bad frequencies” into the universe and apparently, like attracts like.
So, you ready to sign up?! I guess not. But thousands of people have signed up for it. Why, you ask? Because of the promised potential of positive thoughts and feelings. There simply is no limit to how wonderful your life can be if you just get your head in the right place.
Just as bad feelings “attract” bad consequences, positive thoughts and feelings attract positive consequences. You want to be rich? Spend your time thinking about being rich. Imagine what its like, picture it, day after day. Sooner or later, certain wealth will be heading your way.
“Think of yourself as a magnet” they say. You ready?
The Attraction of “the Secret”
Here are four reasons why people are taken up with “the Secret”.
Simplicity - It’s not complex, it’s not subtle, you can understand it in 5 minutes and you’re away.
Compatible - you don’t have to subscribe to a belief about God, have moral standards and it doesn’t challenge ethics or behaviour whatsoever.
Self-centred – “You are the masterpiece” and the secret “gives you everything you want”. There’s no ‘give’ there’s only ‘get’ – who wouldn’t want that? No pain, all gain!
Power – “Whatever you’re thinking and feeling today is creating your future”. Essentially, you are your own god and you, through the power of your mind, manipulate the world around you.
The truth of “the Secret”?
The most discomforting thing about “the Secret” is the truth that lies behind it. No, I don't mean all that stuff about vibes, frequencies and the bending of the universe according to your mind, I mean the power of positive thinking.
' One of the things that attracts people to “the Secret” is the lie that you are entirely in control of your own destiny. '
It's no secret that ambitious people tend to succeed in life. I’m sure there is scientific research linking a sunny outlook on life with good health. Your psychology has a bearing on your physiology. Optimistic people are far more likely to take the risks necessary to go that extra mile, put that extra effort in and are often rewarded with life’s benefits.
But the Secret pushes this principle beyond breaking point and mixes in pseudo-science for good measure. For example, one of the TV charlatans quips, that it’s “proven scientifically that positive thoughts are hundreds times more powerful than negative ones”. But what does that mean? Yes the brain “sends out frequencies” but there is zero evidence that these brain waves have any affect on anything outside of the individual. Positive thoughts push a person to succeed, but they can’t “attract” hundreds of pounds out of the universe.
The problem, though, is that because of the positive thinking principle (if we can call it that), in many cases the Secret actually “works”. Pessimistic people turn into ambitious optimists and have the confidence to take steps forward in many areas of their life.
If that was all there was to “the Secret” then there would be no cause for concern. However, there's also a much darker side.
The Danger of “the Secret”
Any “belief” that suggests that any individual's circumstance is entirely a product of their own doing, is not only completely lacking in evidence and utterly idiotic but incredibly offensive. Suggesting to a deadbeat 20 year old that the reason they don't have a job is because they have no ambition is one thing, but to suggest that people with illnesses or cancer, have been abused or abandoned, betrayed or neglected are responsible for their own circumstances is nothing short of despicable.
Furthermore, to offer people in dire circumstances the illusion of hope when there is absolutely no evidence for it is equally offensive and dangerous.
One of the things that attracts people to “the Secret” is the lie that you are entirely in control of your own destiny. Again, as well as there being no evidence for this, it also puts an incredible burden of responsibility on your own shoulders. Say you subscribe to “the Secret”, convinced that health and happiness was just around the corner. But two weeks in you get hit by a bus and are paralysed. I would not wish that on anyone, but to add insult to injury, what the Secret will tell you is that accident was entirely your fault.
You don't need me to list thousands of other potential situations where, if you truly are the architect of everything that happens in your life, the potential for depression, guilt, fear and anxiety are immense.
Incompatibility with Christianity
Because “the Secret” isn't a religion or belief system it, sadly, is often infused with other faiths, even Christianity. I could spend hours explaining exactly why this is completely wrong but let me just focus on one issue; that God is God and we are not.
The heart of sin is replacing God with man. Mankind fell because they believed the lie that “they could be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Not only is that untrue, it also is sinful; thoroughly offensive to God.
As it says in Romans 1:25, to make ourselves the aim of our lives is “exchanging the Truth about God for a lie”. It is lies like this and the worship of the self that are the basis of “the Secret”, it is therefore sinful at its very core.
Colossians 3:2 commands us to “set our minds on things that are above, not earthly things.” The focus of our lives should be Christ, not our selfish pleasure. God wants to bless us, not harm us, but He wants us to trust Him to provide them and not selfishly hoard them for ourselves.
